Canadian Labour News

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says he is deeply disappointed that the country’s Finance Ministers have once again failed to move forward on improving the Canadian Pension Plan, but he says most provinces want CPP reform and he vows to continue working with them.

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says that provincial and territorial Finance Ministers’ meeting near Ottawa cannot allow the federal government to sabotage discussions aimed at improving the Canada Pension Plan.

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress has sent a strongly-worded letter to the Prime Minister regarding legislation that will harass unions, invade the personal privacy of Canadians and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

“I write to you to express my disgust with the recent conduct of the government regarding Bill C-377,” Georgetti says in his letter to Stephen Harper.

OTTAWA – The Conservative government’s ill-conceived changes to the Employment Insurance system earlier this year have already turned sour, says Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti.

“The government used its giant omnibus budget bills to force through a number of changes to the EI system and it did so without consulting stakeholders,” Georgetti says. “The results have been shockingly bad.”

OTTAWA – The potential costs to taxpayers of a Private Members Bill put forward by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert will be tens of millions of dollars, says Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

OTTAWA – The Canadian economy is not producing enough jobs and the federal government must shift its priority from austerity and cutbacks to job creation says Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti.

“We have not been adding enough jobs in Canada to keep pace with our growing population,” Georgetti says. “Government ministers won’t admit this but it is true.”

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress wants the federal government to rescind work permits granted to a company that plans to bring coal miners to Canada as temporary workers.

CLC President Ken Georgetti has written to Diane Finley, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. Georgetti refers to work permits issued to Dehua International allowing the company to import workers under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) for a coal mine in Northern British Columbia.

The Canadian Labour Congress is criticizing a decision by the federal government to end a successful Employment Insurance pilot project that benefited workers living in regions with high unemployment.

The Extended Employment Insurance Benefits Pilot Project provided an extra five weeks of benefits to people living in 21 designated regions across the country. The program was introduced in 2004 and last renewed in 2010, but the federal government phased it out quietly as of September 15.

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress wants a full public debate on an investment deal that the federal government has negotiated with the government of China.

“This deal could have a huge impact on Canadians and our ability to determine our own future, but there has been little or no public debate on it,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti. “We want to see that debate occur.”

OTTAWA – The President of the Canadian Labour Congress has welcomed a decision by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada to create a new union along with the Canadian Auto Workers.

“The members and leaders of the CEP and CAW are choosing the best way forward for their unions,” Georgetti says.

Delegates to the annual CEP convention meeting in the City of Québec voted in favour of a proposal to create the new union. Delegates to a CAW convention had earlier voted unanimously in favour of the same proposal at their August 2012 convention in Toronto.

The Canadian Labour Congress' Hassan Yussuff, Secretary Treasurer was a guest speaker in Toronto the other week at a rally in support of protecting public services. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the CLC's newest affiliated union was out in full force on the streets of downtown Toronto to meet up with members working at the CRA Toronto Centre TSO.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress says the federal government is allowing corporations to hoard billions of dollars received in tax breaks, and that is undercutting Canada’s ability to create good jobs.

“We can create a lot more jobs in Canada but only if the federal government is prepared to change policies that clearly have not worked,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti.

Georgetti was commenting on the release by Statistics Canada of its Labour Force Survey for September 2012. There were 1,393,800 unemployed Canadians in September and the unemployment rate was 7.4%.

OTTAWA – A Canadian Labour Congress project targeting child labour in India has diverted thousands of children away from work sites and into primary school. The project is supported by funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

“As a result of this project,14 villages and 249 work sites have been declared child- labour free, and more than 12,000 children have received the necessary primary education to be moved into the national education system,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti.

October 4th marks the 7th annual Sisters In Spirit (SIS) Vigil. There are 129 vigils taking place in communities across Canada. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) remember the lives of sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers tragically taken from us. Today, we offer our support and condolences to their families and we join with them in demanding justice.

Union members, affiliates, federations of labour and labour councils are participating in local vigils, rallies, forums and other events from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress says the best thing the federal government can do to show its respect for seniors would be to walk the talk and improve the pensions on which most seniors rely.

Last year, the federal government proclaimed the first day of October as “National Seniors Day” – a day for Canadians to pay tribute to “the seniors who have helped build our country and continue to make valuable contributions to Canadian communities, workplaces and society.”

The Canadian Labour Congress has seen first-hand the effects of the escalating conflict in Syria. Representatives of the CLC, as part of our overseas development programming work, recently were given entrance to the Za'atari Refugee Camp in northern Jordan, where an average of 2,000 refugees are arriving daily, fleeing the escalating conflict in Syria.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress says it’s time for the federal government to get serious about creating good jobs, abandon the tax-cuts-for-jobs partnership with private corporations that haven’t delivered the goods and invest the money where there’s a better guarantee that jobs for Canadians will be the result.

OTTAWA – The veiled threats of a backbench Conservative MP to punish federal public servants for exercising their democratic rights as citizens has drawn the ire of the country’s largest labour organization.

The president of the Canadian Labour Congress says Pierre Poilievre owes an apology to every public servant, especially to citizens of Quebec, for suggesting that a law be passed to deny them the same democratic rights enjoyed by other Canadians.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress says that union members should hold their heads high on Labour Day because they stand up for fairness for all Canadians.

“On Labour Day we celebrate the many contributions of working people toward building a better Canada,” says CLC president Ken Georgetti. “Many of the benefits first won by unions are enjoyed by all workers today, including maternity leave, vacation pay and occupational health and safety laws. When unions stand up for fairness, they raise the bar for everyone.”